


Swords : Ploughshares :: Shields : ?

by gladdecease



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Present Tense, grieving someone who's not actually dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 13:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18624466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease
Summary: "You're not surprised," Sam says.





	Swords : Ploughshares :: Shields : ?

**Author's Note:**

> ....have some immediate post-movie vent fic, I guess  
> 8X

"You're not surprised," Sam says.

Bucky watches Steve, old and well-worn and finally taking care of himself, sink slowly into the passenger seat of a small, dark blue sedan. Sharon Carter shuts the door and gives Bucky a brief, flat smile before she drives off. He expects she's not in a hurry to overthink _that_ whole situation.

"No," Bucky says. A minute's advance notice made surprise not an option; resignation is closer to the mark.

Sam scrubs a hand through his hair, rubs at the back of his neck. "Guess I ain't either, when I think about it." Once Steve's fully out of sight, Sam allows the facade to crumble; his voice quavers. "He, uh - he always been that bad at goodbyes?"

The last time goodbye ever came up with Steve - the real kind of goodbye, not a Skype sign-off or a "see you tomorrow" - Bucky was headed off to war, leaving Steve behind. He can't say he enjoyed the reversal much. "Yeah." He nudges Sam in the side, a purposeful jostle. "Got better at goodbye presents, though."

Sam glances at Bucky, smiling weakly. His eyes are wet. "You can say that again." He hefts the shield and laughs - sobs? - at his watery reflection. " _Hoo_ boy, I am _not_ ready for this."

"That's alright," Bucky says. His own reflection is blank-faced, dry-eyed. He's lost everything before, what's one more time? What's one last person? "He wasn't either."


End file.
